In the absence of a baseball season, so far to date, due to the extraordinary circumstances the country finds itself in these days, I thought I would delve into one of my favorite series of decks issued by the Willis W. Russell Card Co. under their Rustlers brand, known as "The Base-Ball Boys". I intend to provide some information that may not have previously been known and I shall also pose some questions to those who peruse this website in the hope of obtaining even more knowledge in this regard. This series of 6 decks, each featuring a different baseball player on the back in a different pose, comes in blue, red and green. The reference number in the Hochman encyclopedia is SE16. Each deck was put up in it's own unique tuck box printed in the same color as the card back found within, which showed the title of the series and a miniature of the card back contained within. What I find most interesting is that each back design comes with it's own unique phrase printed below the miniature picture on the box. I have 3 pictures below for 3 of the poses while a fourth pose and phrase is shown on page 14 of the 2nd edition of the Supplement & Price Guide to the Hochman encyclopedia in 2004. Here is a list of the 6 poses and the known accompanying phrases for each.
Catcher standing behind a base as if preparing for the next pitch or play - "At the Home Plate"
Outfielder with both hands raised as if preparing to catch the ball - "Getting to Safe Hands" (this pose is shown in the supplement)
Pitcher with both arms raised behind his head as if preparing to deliver a pitch - Unknown
Fielder bent over with both hands lowered as if preparing to field a ground ball - "Shoot it Right This Way"
Fielder bent over with right hand on knee and left hand with ball in glove - Unknown
Fielder with right arm raised and ball in hand as if preparing to throw the ball - "Take a Look at This One"
No matter the pose shown on the card back, each deck has the same joker which is the picture of the catcher and his accompanying phrase and copyright date underneath. The familiar "R" logo corner indices found on most Russell jokers is cleverly formed by 4 baseball bats and a baseball. One question I have for this audience is "Does anyone have original boxes for the remaining 2 poses so that we can identify their respective phrases and, thus, finally have a record of all 6 of them? I have shown the 2 poses below in red, for which I am missing their phrases.
I also have a 1910 baseball schedule for the Cleveland team issued by the Plain Dealer newspaper. The encyclopedia shows a schedule for the Washington team from the same year issued by the Washington Herald newspaper. My second question is "Does anyone have a baseball schedule card from this series for any of the other 6 teams from 1910? It is important to note that although the Rustlers brand has a copyright date of 1906, "The Base-ball Boys" variation actually has a copyright date of 1910 which might help to explain why the two known baseball schedules are both from that year.
It has also been stated in the encyclopedia that "We cannot determine if these photos represented particular players, or just players fielding different positions." I noticed that the team name on the players' uniforms says "Ludlow" and so I wondered if there ever was such a team and, sure enough, to my pleasant surprise, there was. Interestingly it was not in New Jersey where the Russell factory was located. I believe the players shown on the card backs from this series are real ball players from the 1910 Ludlow, Kentucky team. I am unsure as to whether they were a minor league team or a semi-pro team. I found a photograph of this team on the website entitled nkyviews.com and I believe that the outfielder pose is the player shown on the left and the fielder preparing to throw the ball is the player shown as the second from the right. I do not know how to import a photo from one website to another so interested readers will have to go to the cited website to see it for themselves. I am unable to match, to my satisfaction, the faces from the remaining 4 poses to any of the others shown in the team photograph. I also do not have the necessary internet research skills required to unearth the actual identities of the players and so I shall leave that task, again, to interested readers.
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